clarice trailer new

A new Clarice trailer dropped during the Super Bowl over the weekend, and it’s a trailer that’s practically screaming, “HEY, REMEMBER SILENCE OF THE LAMBS?!” in all caps. The trailer has Rebecca Breeds as FBI Agent Clarice Starling recounting her traumatic childhood story of trying to save a lamb from slaughter, and even goes ahead and throws in a quick shot recreating the Silence of the Lambs poster, where a moth perches right on Clarice’s lips. Hell, even the font is the same font used for the Silence of the Lambs opening credits.

Clarice Trailer 

Whenever I write about Clarice, the new CBS series inspired by the work of Thomas Harris, I have to point out that I was one of those dummies who thought Hannibal the TV series was a bad idea. In my defense, before the show arrived it was merely billed as a “prequel series” to Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, and my knee-jerk reaction to prequels is, “We don’t need this.” But Hannibal turned out to be something of a marvel; it’s one of my all-time-favorite TV shows, and it’s a series that pushed boundaries and found exciting ways to further the story of Hannibal Lecter.

So with all that in mind, I’m trying not to judge Clarice too harshly. Like Hannibal, it uses Harris’ Silence of the Lambs as a springboard. But unlike Hannibal, Hannibal Lecter won’t be showing up. In fact, he won’t even be mentioned – because the rights issues to the characters are all over the place. It’s the same reason why Clarice Starling never appeared as a character in Hannibal.

Clarice is meant to be a direct sequel series to Silence of the Lambs. It’s set a year after the events of that book/film, and finds Clarice Starling dealing with the aftermath of her involvement in tracking down serial killer Buffalo Bill. And unlike Hannibal, which couldn’t really mention Silence of the Lambs, Clarice is going all-in on Silence of the Lambs references – at least in this trailer. The trailer here recreates the story Starling told Hannibal about how she tried to save a lamb from being slaughtered as a child. And it even includes a moment where a death’s head moth perches right on Clarice’s mouth, a deliberate nod to the Silence of the Lambs movie poster. In other words, CBS really wants you to think of Silence of the Lambs when you think of Clarice. And while this strategy makes sense on paper, it’s bound to backfire. Because Silence of the Lambs is a masterpiece, and I have serious doubts anyone will be saying the same about Clarice.

Clarice premieres on February 11, 2021 on CBS.

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